Blizzards, snowfall and freezing rain hit much of the country from Saskatchewan to Newfoundland

Taking a look at Environment Canada's Weather Warnings page this morning, there's a lot going on right now.

A blizzard is currently sweeping through the southern regions of the Island of Newfoundland. St. John's International Airport has already recorded 35cm of snow since yesterday afternoon, and as the snow continues, their weather observers have only now, this morning, started reporting it as heavy snow. So, with this system moving along fairly slowly (contrary to the wind speeds it's generating), they are in for a lot more snow on the ground before this is over. Speaking of winds, the airport has been reporting sustained winds of between 35 and 75 km/h, and their 9:30 NST observation reported a wind gust of 111 km/h!

[ Related: Blizzard knocks out power across Newfoundland ]

The warm front that passed over southwestern Ontario last night, bringing warmer temperatures to the region, will be pushing freezing rain into northern Ontario and an area stretching from Peterborough to Quebec City today. Northern Ontario will get freezing rain and ice pellets before the precipitation turns to rain later today. Most of eastern Ontario will probably only get a few hours of freezing precipitation until it switches over to rain this afternoon, but the Ottawa Valley and areas of southern Quebec will start to get the freezing rain this afternoon and it may last for several hours. Between 2 and 10 mm of ice is expected, with southern regions receiving the lower end of that scale and areas further north getting the higher end.

At the other end of the Colorado Low that is bringing all of that 'pleasant' weather to Ontario and Quebec, the prairie provinces have been receiving a significant amount of snowfall and strong winds. Snowfall warnings and winter storm warnings have been issued across the southern regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with forecasts of between 10 and 25 cm of snow and wind speeds up to 35 to 40 km/h. The snow is expected to lighten for Alberta and Saskatchewan this morning, but the winds will cause the blowing snow to continue for the rest of the day. In Manitoba, the freezing rain and snow have already begun to fall this morning, and Environment Canada has called blizzard warnings for in and around the City of Winnipeg.

[ Related: Weather turns nasty, again, in Saskatchewan ]

So, just another typical Canadian winter for us, but all the same — stay warm and please be safe.